Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Ultimate Subaru Message Board

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

What causes door "sagging": hinge, striker bar, or inside the door mechanisms?

Featured Replies

If I manually lift up on the door or look for play, I don't see anything out of the ordinary. No play, no noises, no obvious wear points.

But both of my XT6 doors seem to "sag" - they are harder to close and open than they should be, like they're not hitting the striker square.

There's no rust. 

Which is more common:  a hinge issue, striker issue, or inside the door mechanism issue?

Those doors are long and heavy and have to take the stress as opposed to the vehicle structure. My first thought. But of course to review that may pull on the hinge at the structure side more so. 

That registered as a non answer but I’ll stick with the door side. 

Been ages since I’ve owned one of those wedges. And I don’t have the parts catalog or I’d take a look at those hinges. 
 

Edited by moosens

If you don’t feel any play in the hinges, then it’s probably the door adjustment. Long doors can be a pain that way. I did paint and body work for years and when I first started, my uncle who started doing bodywork when they still used lead, taught me how to adjust them. Take a short piece of 2x4 and place it 6-8 inches from the front of the door jam, between the rocker and the door, and kind of push up as close the door against the 2x4. Do it two or three times and check and see if there’s any improvement. Don’t go crazy with the pressure. Used to have to do this on ‘70’s Chevy’s, there hinges were welded to the body, no bolts to play with.

  • Author
On 11/9/2023 at 6:55 PM, moosens said:

Those doors are long and heavy and have to take the stress as opposed to the vehicle structure. My first thought. But of course to review that may pull on the hinge at the structure side more so. 

That registered as a non answer but I’ll stick with the door side. 

Been ages since I’ve owned one of those wedges. And I don’t have the parts catalog or I’d take a look at those hinges. 
 

This guy knows. They are long doors. Electric window hardware for more weight get. 
 

ilk check again. 

  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/10/2023 at 4:02 PM, idosubaru said:

This guy knows. They are long doors. Electric window hardware for more weight get. 
 

ilk check again. 

Ok, so I had a similar issue in my '86 XT Turbo. The driver's side door wouldn't align perfectly. Part of the door shutting issue came from the door trim catching the upper corner of the door glass. In addition to the door sag. It was a weird conglomeration of door sag but the upper corner sticking high enough to interfere. It came from the door and sunroof creating a combination of sag and upward angle. Might be worth a look.

Twitch

  • Author
5 hours ago, Twitch de la Brat said:

Ok, so I had a similar issue in my '86 XT Turbo. The driver's side door wouldn't align perfectly. Part of the door shutting issue came from the door trim catching the upper corner of the door glass. In addition to the door sag. It was a weird conglomeration of door sag but the upper corner sticking high enough to interfere. It came from the door and sunroof creating a combination of sag and upward angle. Might be worth a look.

Twitch

What did you do to fix it?

Im nearly positive mine is sag. I can hear it hitting the striker low and doesn’t appear to be any interference around the edges. 

  • Author
On 1/30/2024 at 4:00 PM, scoobydube said:

How about bent frame from going airborne?

Well…maybe the miles of rough gravel roads daily commute

14 hours ago, idosubaru said:

What did you do to fix it?

Im nearly positive mine is sag. I can hear it hitting the striker low and doesn’t appear to be any interference around the edges. 

Lol, I got rid of the car :P

But mine was also trim catching on the top rear corner of the window.

Twitch

  • Author
10 hours ago, Twitch de la Brat said:

Lol, I got rid of the car :P

But mine was also trim catching on the top rear corner of the window.

Twitch

Yeah I have seen (and heard, CLICk!) the trim do that as well. 

  • 3 weeks later...

The fix is to jack up the car at the hinges with both front and rear wheels off of the ground.  Then put one person on the front bumper and one on the rear bumper area, and bounce the car until you bend the frame back to where it used to be.  Do only a little bit of bouncing at a time, and then recheck.

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in

Sign In Now

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.